Reddings guide illegal participation

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by ajmc

I understand the rule specifically states a person is OOB when he is touching anything OOB, but the rule does not require, nor even suggest, that this "touching" be continual to maintain his being OOB.

The language used in the rule is "is touching". That is the present tense of the verb "touch". If a player is no longer in contact with the sideline (ie he goes airborne), it does not make grammatical sense to say that the player is touching the sideline. In that case, the player touched the sideline (the past tense of the verb).

Think of it this way. Put your hand on your desk. You are touching the desk. I would say, "Al is touching the desk." Remove your hand from your desk. It is not accurate for me to say "Al is touching the desk." It would be proper for me to say "Al touched the desk."

That is how I read the definition of out of bounds when I read 2-29-1:

"A player or other person is out of bounds when any part of the person is touching anything, other than another player or game official that is on or outside the sideline or end line."